This year there was a record-breaking number of teams who applied to the competition – 125 teams from 14 higher education institutions. The technical tasks were incredibly difficult, but all the finalists managed them, and all of them were already winners, as the organizers mentioned.
“Steel Freedom is a competition that is intended to give students practical experience in completing projects. So we involved real clients with real requirements and limitations, gave a real space and possibility to work in teams to architects, got support from higher education institutions. The students also received another very important practical skill – the skill of presenting their projects to the clients. The only requirements from the organizers was to use steel construction. Remember, the whole world is open for you, and Steel Freedom is a great step towards your career success,” Viacheslav Kolisnyk, Director Executive of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center Association commented.
The 20 student projects of Steel Freedom 2020 were defended in two categories, that were the projects of multi-purpose sport and education complex in Ivano-Frankivsk, and the projects of a stadium in Mariupol.
After the defense, open lectures were delivered by the famous architects, experts and jury members, including Dmytro Vasyliev, Director General of ARCHIMATIKA Architectural Bureau; Oleksii Obraztsov, Architect at ArkhObraz Bureau (Dnipro); Oleksandr Maksimov, Chief Project Architect at AVG Group; Andrii Ryzhykov, CEO of DC Evolution.
Both of the teams from Poltava Polytechnic managed to get to the final, but only one team became a finalist. It was team M-301, which only consisted of one person. Its mentor was Pavlo Semko, Senior Teacher at Architecture and Town Planning Department. Student of Education and Research Institute of Architecture, Construction and Land Management Yelyzaveta Khomych, who also took part in the competition last year, defended the project by herself and only needed 5 minutes to impress the jury.
“The stadium will have 12,770 sits. The concept is inspired by the informal symbol of FC “Mariupol”, the Asov seagull. The steel construction lines and simple glass forms make the building lighter. The stadium will be divided into various zones, such as halls for sportsmen, a sport museum, a cafe, a fitness center, VIP-zone, mass media zone and many others. The stadium will meet the UEFA’s requirements as the project provides inclusive access and sits at the first and third levels,” Yelyzaveta Khomych commented.
According to the jury’s decision, Yelyzaveta Khomych was awarded the second place. Her prizes include an educational trip to Copenhagen.
The mentors of the student projects who inspired them to them part in the competition, consulted and supported the participants were Oksana Dovzhenko, Taras Rudenko and Pavlo Semko, teachers of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”. They were awarded commendations and small prizes from the sponsors of the competition.
Last year, architecture and construction students were also winners at Steel Freedom 2019, and the community of Mariupol already started to implement the community center project created by our students.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
